Freakonomics Reaction Paper

Freakonomics was a good way to introduce the basic concepts of economics applied in everyday living and what we can learn from that. It primary aim seems to open the eyes of the general public to the fact that economics should be a conscious part of our way of life. Generally, what it says is that economics is a good tool in understanding and eventually helping us decide important aspects of our day to day living.
The innovative ideas presented in the various segments tries to alter a lot of perspectives on how we think. At the end of it all, it leaves one with the thought that "conventional wisdom" is not what we thought it was.
For example, it was interesting to note how the principle "Rational people think at the margin" was discussed in the movie as a real estate example. Explained in layman's terms, agents tend to advice homeowners to sell their house even at a lower price if the marginal benefit for the agent is low.
The documentary demonstrated the pervasiveness of incentives in society. I agree to Levitt and Dubner’s premise that it is commonly accepted that for most people, given the right price or the right incentive, 1. cheating will always be considered by the most affected people as an option 2. there will always be a desire to maximize the incentive 3. certain behaviors could be changed.
The first premise was elaborated further on the portions of the documentary that analyzed Chicago public school test data for evidence of teachers cheating on standardized tests and allegations of cheating at sumo wrestling matches in Japan. For teachers in Chicago public schools, the incentive is high: get high scores or face losing funding or even your job. So is the situation in sumo wrestling: I scratch your back and you scratch my back…...

Similar Documents

...REACTION PAPER
“Tsunami”
Horrifying! Shocking! Great! Alarming! These are the things I can say about the movie.
I had watched so many documentary movies about this matter. At first, I thought this film will be kind boring. But I was proved amiss.
As I keep looking on the scenes I get started to like it. Its drama really melts my heart. The adventure is very intense. It’s like watching a horror movie but in fact it is not. You get shouted, shocked, and amazed in every big scene, like when a big cargo ship stuck on the bridge and the man is trying to evade the falling cargo containers from that. Luckily he survived to that enormous challenge. The movie ends with the scene of Hyundai in ruins, but in an atmosphere of hope.
Sometimes we need to follow our instincts. We must take a perfect action in making decisions in life. Like of what had happened to the City of Hyundai, many people killed, streets, bridges and buildings were vanished away by the tsunami in just seconds. We must also take salute to those people who are willing to offer their life for the sake of others.
I desire that this movie will inform our government. They should construct strong policies concerning about our environment. May they shall take active actions in accomplishing better devices that will greatly help us in warning millions of people if ever there would be some instances that this kind of tragedy will happen to our loving country. Because nobody know when the nature will take revenge......

...Theresa A
ANT2410.002
Reaction Paper Chapter 13
In the chapter on Religion I find it hard to believe some of the ideas behind some cultures beliefs, but I think that has a lot to do with the fact I am not very religious and am very much a skeptic. Take for example anthropomorphic supernatural, which are deities in the form of humans, it would seem the "God" of Christianity is a form of anthropomorphic and it is said that they get annoyed if neglected, but in Christianity all bad is done by the devil and all good is done by God and no one with "true faith" would be able to be convinced otherwise. Where I would say that it is neither and it isn’t caused by a supernatural force.
It also says that is some cultures, deceased ancestors can be supernaturals. It amazing what is conveyed to kids without really knowing the basis of their cartoons. For example, I noticed while watching The Lion King and Mulan, which are two children movies, that they portray the ancestors as spirits. In the Lion King the father Mufasa is teaching his cub Simba about his kingdom he says that the gases in the sky are all of his ancestors watching down over him and that one day they will help him lead. In the movie Mulan, where in the Japanese culture ancestor worship is the principal religious activity, she prays to her ancestors for strength and guidance when she goes off to war for her father. I for one have never noticed how much religion is based in children movies before reading this chapter....

...Armand Christopher E. Caneja
BSM 4
A Reaction Paper: Cebu CFI Community Cooperative Fieldtrip
Last March 6, 2013, our group visited a successful cooperative in Palo, Leyte for a short interview. That cooperative was Cebu CFI Community Cooperative which started in Cebu founded and is chaired by Ret. Judge Esperanza F. Garcia. The cooperative started as a closed cooperative for court employees, having 3000 members. They then opened their membership to self-employed people which they classified as the “Community Group” and to the employees of the government. At present, their main office is located in Cebu City and has ten (10) satellite offices in the province of Cebu and one (1) office for each of the listed provinces: Bohol; Southern, Leyte; Negros Oriental; and Siquijor. The cooperative celebrated its 42nd anniversary last March 4, 2012.
During the visit, I noticed that the office has this bank-like ambiance; it is fully air-conditioned, there is spacious waiting area with chairs that everyone would be comfortable sitting on and transactions are being done in a very organized manner; this for me is a sign or an evidence that the said organization is indeed successful. I also noticed that most if not all of their employees are Cebuano speaking; this may something to do with cebuano’ and waraynons’ culture when it comes to employment.
Also, during the interview, we discovered that Cebu CFI Community Cooperative does not have a problem with delinquency since their......

...Reaction Paper-Fiction short story
The short story has a very interesting storyline that takes place in a seemingly small town that has animals as its population. All the animals come together to watch the criminal mouse be hung for his crime. Some of the animals that play major roles in the story are a large beetle, raccoon, and a praying mantis. The specifics of each animal in the hanging are “A raccoon, wearing the traditional black mask, was the executioner…..A large praying mantis was in charge of the religious end of the ceremonies.” (Barnet, Cain, & Burto, 2010) The animals during the execution had a hard time watching the mouse death. “It was all so touching that a cat, who had brought her child in her mouth, shed several large tears. They rolled down on to the child’s back and he began to squirm and shriek, so that the mother thought that the sight of the hanging had perhaps been too much for him.” (Barnet, Cain, & Burto, 2010) The large beetles were the soldiers because of their armor shells. The raccoons as executioner, because of the black mask the raccoons are made with. A praying mantis had the duty of taking charge of the religious ceremony, since they are “praying” since it is part of their name and is linked to religion. Not knowing what the mouse did criminally, he seemed remorseful. All the animals in the crowd seemed to be happy that the mouse was about to get death. The writer implies that the mouse has done something serious to get death as a......

...Reaction paper
The section 4 making external forces that affect organization is the topic we discuss some of the forces impacting your small business are more challenging to master than others. The degree to which you can control them varies. At the same time, you can improve the state of external factors effecting your small business; you can't make the economy grow, but you can encourage spending. Understanding the factors at work better equips you to prepare for them. A method to align supply chain with business strategy. Your employees are happier when they are courteous and respectful of one another. They want their achievements to be recognized. When you provide sufficient instructions to your subordinates, you enable them to do their jobs effectively. When you help employees identify with your company's mission and goals, you are likelier to keep them long-term. The economy is an external factor that effects the success of your business. The ability of your clients to pay directly impacts your bottom line, regardless of whether you sell a product or service. You can offer sales and promotions, and you can tout the value of your company's offerings, but during rough financial times your clients might prefer to allocate their resources elsewhere. Economics might be specific to your clients' industries, and it might be a global issue impacting supply and demand. If you make a toy and business at toy stores across the country declines, your sales will suffer. Diversifying...

...percent from 2012.
The range of the peso assumption was stretched due to uncertainties that remain in the global economy.
The peso finished at 44.71 to $1 on Friday, weaker than the 44.68:$1 close the previous day.
The currency depreciated by 7.35 percent to close at 44.395:$1 at the end of last year from 41.05 at the end of 2012.
Traders said the peso’s movement early this year will still be determined by market sentiment toward the US Federal Reserve’s scaling back of monthly asset purchases. The Fed on Dec. 18 announced a modest $10-billion cut in its monthly asset purchases to $75 billion starting this month.
The Fed said it may implement further reductions in the stimulus this year, depending on the upcoming US economic data.
III. REACTION
We all know that a devalued currency results in inflation. In the short term, this can lead to a reduction of the trade deficit, but in the long term, unless everybody in the country earns a proportionate amount more, people's buying power goes down even though they might make more money. This is what happens every time the Federal Reserve lowers interest rates; to lower the rate, they print more money. Most of that money winds up with banks and large financial institutions, and allows them to take on capital expenditures that at a higher interest rate would not have been profitable. The problem is that with more money in circulation, each peso becomes worth less. Having a strong, stable currency is extremely important to......

...Reaction Paper-Week IV
Beverly L. Clanton
University of Phoenix
Eng/125
Molly Holmes
06/26//09
Reaction Paper-Week IV
The nonfiction stories I read for this assignment were “Salvation, by Langston Hughes and Graduation, by Maya Angelou.”
In the story “Salvation,” a young sinner, Langston Hughes, is brought to church by his aunt to “find Jesus." Even though Langston felt no connection to Jesus, he felt obligated to pretend, due to his love for his aunt. In our lives, many of our decisions are influenced by the ones close to us because of the love we have for them. We do not want to disappoint our love ones; therefore, occasionally one may defer goals and aspirations in fear of not receiving approval.
When Langston Hughes says “So I decided that maybe to save further trouble, I‘d rather lie too, and say that Jesus had come, and get up and be saved.” Having said this, young Langston has apparently overlooked his personal belief to receive an approval of salvation by the congregation.
After reading this story, I realized that everyday individuals are faced with hundreds of decisions and choices. Sometimes our consciences conflict with one another and it is hard to make the most beneficial decision. This happens so often that most of the time it will go past unnoticed. Peer pressure is one of the most common of these "bad consciences." Teenagers are the most vulnerable to peer pressure because of their desire to receive approval from their friends. Even in my......

...REACTION PAPER
THE MEN WHO CRASHED THE WORLD
I. SUMMARY
THE FINANCIAL AND stock market meltdown of September-October 2008 is unlike anything that the vast majority of us have seen in our lifetimes. Americans would have to be old enough to remember 1929 and the onset of the Great Depression to have seen a crisis of this magnitude. People in Japan, it’s true, know all about the “lost decade” after the late 1980s bank crashes – but the late situation is a disaster on a global scale. Great Depression is actually, the outcome of this crisis and is unpredictable. Among other differences, the 1929 stock market crash and subsequent credit crisis led to the Great Depression of the 1930s in part because governments responded with “tight money” policies until too late, an act of suicide which central banks and governments today definitely will not repeat. Quite the contrary, extremely energetic state interventions in Europe and the USA – very much against the recent ideological free-market “run of play” – have halted the fears of a total global banking collapse and the short-term stock market panic.
It’s indeed instructive how quickly the entire ideology of “unleashing the free market” and financial deregulation could be thrown aside in order to rescue giant banks that are “too big to fail.” The U.S. Treasury will not only be purchasing (at above-market rates) the “toxic assets” held by these institutions, but pumping hundreds of billions more into them by buying “preferred......

...“Understanding human behavior at work is
the single most important requirement for managerial success.”
(REACTION PAPER)
This statement tells us that in order to achieve managerial success, one must be able understand human behavior at work. Now, the question is, how can such understanding lead to managerial success?
Generally, management is defined as getting things done through or with people. From the definition itself, it can be said that people is the main consideration in management. As a matter of fact, not all people behave the same way as you do. This is because of difference in personalities. Personality is the various aspects of a person’s character that makes him or her different from other people. So notably, the main consideration in management is people with different personality.
Dealing with people who have different personalities at work is not easy, especially when you have some goals to achieve. Thus, the first thing you must do is to understand how your people act, think, feel, and respond at work. By understanding your people’s behavior, it helps you understand them better and appreciate them more. It allows you to know what drives them and helps you think of them in more positive ways. If you could understand the psychology of how people act at work, it would be easier for you to collaborate with your people in the organization.
Additionally, one of the most common management skills includes human skill,......

...Reaction Paper
The documentary “China’s Water Challenges” is about the problems on water that China facing now.
The problems they had is that they had more water, less water, dirty water and mud water. The main location of this problem is on the Yellow river. When it rains, the flow on the yellow river is turbulent that causes severe floods on the cities beside the river. When it is now raining, the river has less water and more sediments caused by the erosion of the soil. Drought was also a problem of China because some provinces do not rain often. Wastewater management causes problem to the community as it produces foul smell and contaminate the potable water of the city.
China’s government, for me, has done a great job to solve these problems especially on the Yellow river. They relocate the people living on the side of the river to higher places to prevent damages from floods cause by the river. They also formed a committee that will monitor the condition of the whole river. They encourage people to build terraces and plant trees beside the river to prevent soil erosion. Their government is concerned to the well-being of the community. They really did what they are meant to do.
The way they deal with the problem is something that we should learn from. We should take the China’s government as an example to take on our problem in water sources here in our country. We should work together to prevent and completely solve our problems here....

...Reaction Paper: An Inconvenient Truth
The documentary, An Inconvenient Truth, by Al Gore is an eye opener and also a wake up call for me. I have heard about global warming before, probably back in grade school but I knew a little about it or I only knew the meaning of the term global warming. The documentary gave me a deeper understanding of what global warming really is and what will be the consequences if we do not do something about it. The way the documentary is presented is very effective. Al Gore defined and described global warming in a way a non-science-loving-environmentalist-geek would understand. Most likely, that would be the reason why it won so many awards.
The documentary showed the basic process of global warming which is the greenhouse gases are trapping the sun's heat in the earth's atmosphere which makes the earth warm. The greenhouse gases are caused by producing too much CO2. When Al Gore compared the old and new photos of the same place, the difference was very obvious. I can clearly see that the glaciers are starting to melt. Al Gore also showed graphs and charts showing that every year the production of CO2 is getting higher also earth's temperature is getting warmer.
Other nations are trying to do something about global warming. Most national governments have signed and ratified the Kyoto Protocol. The Kyoto Protocol is an amendment to the international treaty on climate change, assigning mandatory emission limitations for the reduction of......

...Reaction Paper #2
Gary Stansberry
This reaction paper is on the eyewitness account from inside the WTC towers on 9/11. It is an article that gives the stories of three unfortunate people who have been scarred for life on account of the events. They both witnessed the terrorist attacks first hand. The first story is from a man named Jonathan Weinberg, who was working in the building on the day of the attacks. He recounts that he had stayed in his office instead of going into a specific conference room that day, and that saved his life. I could not imagine being a part of that. He described the feeling he felt at that moment as shock. I would have been more than shocked, I would have been terrified beyond belief. The next person was Ashton Lee, and she tells her story from the outside of the building. She says that she was outside, and when the tower was struck she started running for her life, because she thought that the building would crush her if she didn’t get out of the way. I could not imagine the fear of being crushed by a building, on top of everyone screaming. I probably would have run until I collapsed. She said she almost fainted at the thought of death, which I would have to agree with her on that. If I had such a close encounter with death I don’t know if I could handle it. Her account was right next to the towers though, there is another story where a man was a distance away from the tragedy. He states that he saw people jumping from the building. I do not......

...Reaction Paper
The whole seminar is the longest yet the best seminar that I have attended. I had a chance to gain knowledge from the two intelligent and beautiful speakers. The first speaker talked about “Self-esteem”. She told us that each of us should build up our self-esteem. I agree to her when she said that high self-esteem is very important for us to achieve our dreams. Through high self-esteem, I will be able to face all the problems, whether they are simple or a worst one. I should trust myself that I can do my goal. Because If I do not believe in myself then who will? There is one thing about the first lady speaker said that really confused me. She said that, “Your self is your best friend.” In my opinion, a best friend is a friend that motivates us, a friend who is always there for us, who believes in our capabilities, and a friend that understands us. God is one of my best friends. My family, classmates, friends, and other people that are very special to me are also my best friends. Somehow, what she have said is somewhat true. I should be a best friend for myself. I should believe, understand, love, and take care of myself like a best friend does. In that way, other people would also do the same. I believe to her that “What you think of yourself is what others think of you too.” What you do and how you treat you self is what others will do to you. The second speaker spoke about “How you present yourself with other people in corporate world.” She is......

...“Thin” Reaction Paper
“Thin” a documentary about women facing their eating disorders. “Thin” focused on four particular women Polly, Shelley, Brittany, and Alisa. These women were all brave enough to realize they had a problem and wanted help with the exception of Brittany. Sometimes when I hear about women with eating disorders I can be unsympathetic. I just feel there are so many things in life to think about other than what people think of you. Then I had to realize media has a lot to do with the way our young women picture themselves. We all want to look like this superstar. They all see this fat, ugly person when they look in the mirror and I realized I do the same thing, if we admit it we’ve all done it. The only difference is I’ve come to embrace this so called “fat” person. I wasn’t happy with my body image so I’m doing something about it but in a healthy way. These woman have so much more going on mentally they probably should have gotten therapy way before it got this far. These women just had so much more going on than they can show in a short documentary.
I felt the documentary was ok. I don’t know what the director was going for but the documentary was a bit fluff. I don’t think it really went as deep as it could have. I mean the stories were real but the Renfrew just seem like it wasn’t really helping that much. The fact that they would throw you out as soon as you’re insurance ran out, even though it’s clear you still need to be there, was disgraceful. It......

...REACTION PAPER
The seminar held by group entitled “Lock and Load: Military Nursing” was appealing because it creates awareness unto us regarding this field in nursing. I like the way the group organized the said seminar. The members of the group have their individual task to do as the seminar goes on. The prayer that was led by one of its member made the start of the seminar in good atmosphere. Even the singing of our national anthem was nice. The creativity of the group was shown with the way they arrange and decorated the rooms were the seminar was held. It was simple but very attractive to the eye of the audience. The only thing that I noticed that was quite not good was the seminar wasn’t smooth flowing. There are unwanted interruptions that cause the audience to wait. I commend the speakers for they did their best in leading the said seminar but I noticed that there were quite some time that they’ve forgotten the next thing to do that causes another delay to the continuity of the seminar. But if I will be asked if it was successful or not, for me it is definitely a successful one. The speaker has a good poise and I noticed that the audience really listened well unto what the speaker is saying. I also salute the group for having such a admirable speaker with her experience in the said field, she was able to discuss in a good way the experiences she had and the things we must consider before we decide to enter a certain field of nursing. I was amazed with how......